Please join your neighbors for another evening of Positive Loitering 7-8 PM at the corner of Leland & Sheridan. We'll meet there and then decide where to go from there. The event is sponsored by the Uptown Chicago Commission and all are invited to attend. Puppy treats have been generously donated by our friends at Soggy Paws.
Bring a friend, bring a dog, bring a friend's dog! Come out and enjoy the beautiful summer weather.
I wonder if any of the "positive loiterers" contacted 311 about the older woman sitting on the sidewalk with her suitcase on the corner of Leland and Sheridan. It didn't look like it when I passed her twice. I stopped a police officer on her bike about the woman, and the officer's response was, "Well, that's just the neighborhood." So all the talking about "positive loitering" and contacting the police about "negative loitering" doesn't seem to yield any results one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteGee, Dop, so quick to judge. If you'd bothered to talk to either the woman or the positive loiterers, you would have found out the situation.
ReplyDeleteOne of the havens for homeless women in the ICA Building, at Lawrence and Sheridan, closes at 7:15. The overnight shelter for women at REST, at Wilson and Sheridan, opens at 8. So many of the women take their belongings, in suitcases, and sit outside along Sheridan (yes, including at Leland) during that time because they have nowhere to go while waiting for the REST shelter to open and accommodate them. If you'd bothered to talk to them or the Positive Loiterers, you would have known that they know many of the PLer by name and indeed, several of them hung out with us last night and chatted, on both sides of the street.
That's the story, not "it's the neighborhood." Maybe, just maybe, the positive loiterers might know some things about the neighborhood that you don't, even though you "pass by twice."
The police officers I know that help cover our area from Western & Belmont and live in my Condo say the same about Uptown. There is not much they can do about all the loitering specially on private property. It is just part of life in Uptown. Its a super low priority call and 99% of the time when a complaint is made the callers are never there to sign it and follow through to court anyway. The cops said how many positive loiterers have ever called 911 and stood out in front of the ones they called on and signed a complaint and followed through and showed up in court. Most of you after calling 911 just peek out the windows and hide behind the drapes. That sure is not positive loitering.
ReplyDelete@gg well said
ReplyDeleteWiseguy That's funny the police officers that live in your condo that work at Belmont and Western, do not cover Uptown. The District at Belmont and Western is 19. The 19th district covers the area west of Clark Street. The officers that actually cover Uptown are from the 23rd district located at Halsted and Addison.
ReplyDeleteThey were correct though when they say there is not much they can do about Uptown as they do not patrol Uptown.
P you are wrong as they do come into this area to assist all the time. They work in their own 19th but also assist calls into the 23rd. Take a good look even at the number ID on the patrol cars and you will see mostly a 23 buy also you will see 19. They work in the 19th and do come into the 23rd all the time. Believe it or not.
ReplyDeleteWiseguy you are incorrect. Nice try though.
ReplyDeleteI'm just telling you what I saw, which is what positive loitering is all about, right? I didn't judge anyone and I appreciate you not judging me.
ReplyDelete"So all the talking about "positive loitering" and contacting the police about "negative loitering" doesn't seem to yield any results one way or the other." Dop
ReplyDeleteDop, I wonder how you define judgment? Your statement sounds like a judgment to me, a wrong one at that.
Dop, what a copout. You judged the positive loitering as useless without knowing the whole story, and got called on it.
ReplyDelete